tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-28787909.post7439577071419980519..comments2015-03-03T13:23:51.829+00:00Comments on separated by a common language: migraine, Miss Marpleisms, and linguistic imperialismlynneguisthttp://www.blogger.com/profile/10171345732985610861noreply@blogger.comBlogger34125tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-28787909.post-3482843829790981982012-08-26T13:27:48.892+01:002012-08-26T13:27:48.892+01:00This isn&#39;t a blog for language professionals--...This isn&#39;t a blog for language professionals--you can ask as much as you like, though sometimes I leave others to answer as I already spend way too much time here. (This is not part of my job--though some seem to think it is, when they tell me &#39;I wish I had your job!&#39;)<br /><br />&#39;Depot&#39; to me is old-fashioned and is what you might use for something out of Thomas the Tank Engine or such. I wouldn&#39;t call a commuter train station a &#39;depot&#39; for example. Maybe others have other experiences...lynneguisthttp://www.blogger.com/profile/10171345732985610861noreply@blogger.comtag:blogger.com,1999:blog-28787909.post-34872177211325372462012-08-26T12:17:21.713+01:002012-08-26T12:17:21.713+01:00Ok, so &#39;depot&#39; and &#39;train station&#39;...Ok, so &#39;depot&#39; and &#39;train station&#39; are both AmE terms for where a train stops. How widespread is &#39;depot&#39; compared to &#39;train station&#39;? Is &#39;depot&#39; an older person&#39;s term? (Momma B would be 102 in November were she still alive). Is &#39;depot&#39; reserved for a particular kind of station, perhaps one used mostly for long-distance traffic? <br /><br />You see, this reticent Brit who is not an academic but who is naturally curious and fascinated by this blog and gets the sense sometimes that she is butting in with professional language specialists, is brimming with questions now and wonders how many she can ask without outstaying her welcome.enitharmonhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/17829757748223670291noreply@blogger.comtag:blogger.com,1999:blog-28787909.post-53602757607958348232012-08-26T11:37:12.569+01:002012-08-26T11:37:12.569+01:00She calls it a &#39;depot&#39; because things can ...She calls it a &#39;depot&#39; because things can have more than one name! :)lynneguisthttp://www.blogger.com/profile/10171345732985610861noreply@blogger.comtag:blogger.com,1999:blog-28787909.post-62625636292736564422012-08-25T21:06:25.176+01:002012-08-25T21:06:25.176+01:00If &#39;train station&#39; is the American term fo...If &#39;train station&#39; is the American term for a railway station, why did Momma B, my late ex mom-in-law, always call the place in Rome, NY, where we boarded the Amtrak train for NYC or Rochester &quot;the depot&quot; (pronounced DEE-poh)? (One of the delights for me of the first time I visited was seeing the huge locomotive clanging as it came to a stop, and the conductor getting his steps out so we could get on from ground level. Just like in the movies!) <br /><br />I first encountered &#39;train station&#39; in the mid-1970s as the invariable term for where trains came and went from, and I assumed it was local usage. I&#39;ve heard it in Ireland too, before it became general throughout Britain. It may even have come from Australia, but I don&#39;t think I ever heard it in the US.<br />enitharmonhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/17829757748223670291noreply@blogger.comtag:blogger.com,1999:blog-28787909.post-8903156633280999112010-07-22T20:29:51.891+01:002010-07-22T20:29:51.891+01:00I don&#39;t recall Lord Peter saying &quot;Sez you...I don&#39;t recall Lord Peter saying &quot;Sez you&quot;, but in <i>Murder Must Advertise</i> he does say &quot;Okay, captain&quot; in response to Parker&#39;s &quot;Oh yeah?&quot; This both seem to be clear cases of intentional Americanisms -- indeed, American-gangsterisms.<br /><br />I&#39;m not sure what, if anything, in Wimsey&#39;s previous line provoked this, but for the record it was: &quot;This other pebble, which I here produce, was found by me on the roof to the lavatory. I had to shin down a pipe to get it, and ruined a pair of flannel bags.&quot;John Cowanhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/11452247999156925669noreply@blogger.comtag:blogger.com,1999:blog-28787909.post-56972894621116172542010-07-15T23:24:40.235+01:002010-07-15T23:24:40.235+01:00I really loved the Joan Hickson version of Marple ...I really loved the Joan Hickson version of Marple (1984 - 1992) as they were very authentic. The series with the Geraldine McEwan character (ITV, 2004 onwards) were monstrous - perverse tweaks to perfectly good plots, and unnecessary lesbian sub-plots! I ask you! I have higher hopes for the new (2009 ff) series starring Julia McKenzie. It appears to have different writers, who are more faithful to Christie&#39;s intentions.<br /><br />We expect the costumes, cars and props to be authentic, so it doesn&#39;t seem unreasonable to expect the same of the dialogue!biochemistnoreply@blogger.comtag:blogger.com,1999:blog-28787909.post-20695015102709772162010-07-15T21:40:02.414+01:002010-07-15T21:40:02.414+01:00This is especially fascinating in the context of d...This is especially fascinating in the context of digital global communication. A small person in my family learnt to talk will he was living in the Netherlands. His parents speak rural Montanan English (as I), but he rapidly assumed the Scots vocabulary, cadence, and pronunciation of his nursery school teacher. Now he&#39;s accumulating a new layer of language from his peers in Perth. Throw in an occasional borrowing from Dutch, Japanese, and French... go figure where that child sounds to be a native.Blythehttp://www.blogger.com/profile/10147284664183496856noreply@blogger.comtag:blogger.com,1999:blog-28787909.post-83996522761869383092010-07-15T19:50:06.079+01:002010-07-15T19:50:06.079+01:00@Jake: Alexis Denishof spent a few years working i...@Jake: Alexis Denishof spent a few years working in London, which may account for his better ear (and tongue) for the accent.lynneguisthttp://www.blogger.com/profile/10171345732985610861noreply@blogger.comtag:blogger.com,1999:blog-28787909.post-72748844895291537482010-07-15T17:53:55.058+01:002010-07-15T17:53:55.058+01:00As an AmE speaker, I found the Spike accent on Buf...As an AmE speaker, I found the Spike accent on <i>Buffy</i> a bit dodgy, but much better than the Drusilla/English or Flashback-Angel/Irish accents. That said, Marsters does a beautiful imitation of an Englishman poorly imitating an American accent (&quot;No surrr, I&#39;m a friend of Xanderrr&#39;s&quot;).<br /><br />There have been a few American TV series remade in the UK. I&#39;ve seen a few clips of ITV&#39;s &quot;Days Like These,&quot; and I was astonished at how accomplished it made &quot;That &#39;70s Show&quot; look.Brianhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/03775279072826816185noreply@blogger.comtag:blogger.com,1999:blog-28787909.post-35023695073134913982010-07-15T14:39:04.006+01:002010-07-15T14:39:04.006+01:00I&#39;d have to go along with the majority of Brit...I&#39;d have to go along with the majority of Brits here and point out that &quot;Train Station&quot; and &quot;Not to worry&quot; are in very common use, the latter being especially common in the north.<br /><br />Meanwhile, I&#39;ve been wondering how long it took for Buffy to get a look in this blog. <br /><br />Apparantly, James Marsters&#39; accent was considered so good by Buffy production staff that he conviced many of them he was in fact English, which if anything makes me slightly depressed. Still it takes nothing away from his thoroughly entertaining performance.<br /><br />One interesting fact is that co-star Alexis Denisof (Wesley) &#39;s accent was genuinely good enough to short list him for James Bond. So some of them can do it.<br /><br />American remakes seem to have an amazing knack for being terrible (McSpaced, anyone) but this is only really when the original programme drew on British culture for its humour, and so &quot;Americanizing&quot; it literally took most of the jokes out. <br /><br />Re-recording an Attenborough programme just seems bizarre to me. How can you not love the man&#39;s voice?Jakehttp://www.twitter.com/Howe_zatnoreply@blogger.comtag:blogger.com,1999:blog-28787909.post-91877976407962018742010-07-14T11:51:02.576+01:002010-07-14T11:51:02.576+01:00I suspect the British posters who find &quot;train...I suspect the British posters who find &quot;train station&quot; normal are young people. It&#39;s commonly seen on UK signs and bus destination boards these days, but to me (50+) it sounds like something a small child would say; the traditional expression is &quot;railway station&quot;.<br /><br />Kate (Derby, UK)Anonymousnoreply@blogger.comtag:blogger.com,1999:blog-28787909.post-42460947222583130732010-07-13T09:47:48.948+01:002010-07-13T09:47:48.948+01:00Whilst I agree that the recent Marple is patchy - ...Whilst I agree that the recent Marple is patchy - sometimes excellent, sometimes ridiculously overblown - and I&#39;m as quick as anyone to say &quot;But she wouldn&#39;t be wearing those knickers in 1932, they look like they were bought in M&amp;S yesterday&quot;, I also think that there can be a tendency to assume that &quot;modern&quot; language in period dramas is anachronistic, when in fact it isn&#39;t, becuase the 1930s were not actually that long ago. If Lord Peter Wimsey were to say “sez you” in a modern TV adaptation, the Radio Times would be full of letters about this appalling anachronism. But in fact he says it in one of the novels.<br /><br />nineveh_ukAnonymousnoreply@blogger.comtag:blogger.com,1999:blog-28787909.post-22414712118509001172010-07-13T04:20:53.435+01:002010-07-13T04:20:53.435+01:00Cleft.Cleft.Jeffnoreply@blogger.comtag:blogger.com,1999:blog-28787909.post-81865179434042137542010-07-12T19:32:44.548+01:002010-07-12T19:32:44.548+01:00Could I just say that the swedish subtitles were a...Could I just say that the swedish subtitles were at least as good as the english in the American Coupling scenes?<br /><br />And while I&#39;m off-topic could I just mention quite how ... disturbing -- it is to see Richard Coyle in the Prince Of Persia film? You keep expecting him to pause and say &quot;gusset&quot; or such like. And I couldn&#39;t explain this to my son since he&#39;s still at least five years too young to get the point of Coupling.Andy Holyerhttp://www.arts.ac.uknoreply@blogger.comtag:blogger.com,1999:blog-28787909.post-52982057495942215262010-07-12T13:08:53.566+01:002010-07-12T13:08:53.566+01:00&quot;Why remake [Marple] at all?&quot;
The Joan ...&quot;Why remake [Marple] at all?&quot;<br /><br />The Joan Hickson versions were made by the BBC. The new version is made by ITV.<br /><br />ITV does the (generally good) Poirot series, and I guess they wanted to try their hand at Marple too. If they stuck closely to the books, they&#39;d be accused of copying the BBC&#39;s treatment, so they went all out in the other direction.Robbiehttp://www.blogger.com/profile/14858990719621367769noreply@blogger.comtag:blogger.com,1999:blog-28787909.post-64120043334599555862010-07-11T22:52:53.124+01:002010-07-11T22:52:53.124+01:00Re. &quot;The Economist doesn&#39;t like gubernato...Re. &quot;The Economist doesn&#39;t like gubernatorial because it &#39;is an ugly word.&#39;&quot;<br /><br />The Merriam-Webster Dictionary says &quot;gubernatorial&quot; is of Latin origins and date in English to 1734. So the Economist should complain to Cicero and his cohorts, or to the good people of England if it doesn&#39;t like the word. The US is not responsible for problems in English that pre-date the founding of the country!Bill Scotthttp://www.blogger.com/profile/13125596901914818418noreply@blogger.comtag:blogger.com,1999:blog-28787909.post-19666146684659002222010-07-11T15:43:33.665+01:002010-07-11T15:43:33.665+01:00But... but... there are perfectly good adaptations...But... but... there are perfectly good adaptations of Miss Marple that I watched in my childhood! Why remake it at all?!<br /><br />Thanks for the interesting read, as always :)Rachel Cotterillhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/08969719330048416996noreply@blogger.comtag:blogger.com,1999:blog-28787909.post-90199248824344847342010-07-11T14:35:50.269+01:002010-07-11T14:35:50.269+01:00&quot;emphasized a lesbian subplot that was quite ...&quot;emphasized a lesbian subplot that was quite discreet in the original novel&quot;<br /><br />I&#39;d certainly missed it. But I don&#39;t recall if I knew of lesbians when I read <em>A Murder is Announced</em>. In retrospect I think I know what&#39;s that supposed to be about, but the details are too fuzzy.<br /><br />I&#39;ven&#39;t seen much of the new Marple, but I dun&#39; like it.Silihttp://www.blogger.com/profile/14078875730565068352noreply@blogger.comtag:blogger.com,1999:blog-28787909.post-59502536756800022752010-07-11T03:03:49.378+01:002010-07-11T03:03:49.378+01:00Darn, just when I&#39;d almost managed to forget t...Darn, just when I&#39;d almost managed to forget the execrable Coupling remake! Even for an American show it was awful, which was twice as painful to those of us who&#39;d seen the original on BBC America. <br /><br />It ranks near the top of the list of bizarre translations of British TV for Americans, right next to when BBC America put English subtitles on episodes of Skins.biggerboxnoreply@blogger.comtag:blogger.com,1999:blog-28787909.post-66860740725895350292010-07-11T02:53:44.765+01:002010-07-11T02:53:44.765+01:00Migraine, though immediately from French, is ultim...<i>Migraine</i>, though immediately from French, is ultimately from Greek <i>hemicrania</i> &#39;half-head-ish&#39;, since the characteristic headache only attacks one side of the migraineur&#39;s head. So I suspect the PRICE vowel reflects the old pronunciation of Greek, whereas the FLEECE vowel reflects French directly.John Cowanhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/11452247999156925669noreply@blogger.comtag:blogger.com,1999:blog-28787909.post-20845296736169565662010-07-10T20:53:59.514+01:002010-07-10T20:53:59.514+01:00I watch BBC America a lot, but I&#39;d watch it mo...I watch BBC America a lot, but I&#39;d watch it more if MORE shows were imported (where&#39;s <i>QI</i>, for one?). Less <i>Top Gear</i> (which I do admittedly love) and <i>Star Trek</i>(!), more of the great quality being produced on the east shore of the pond!!<br /><br />And even when we <b>DO</b> get Brit TV on BBCA, they bleep swears and cut things out (that might actually be vital to the plot!) to include more adverts. I watch BBCA because I want to see BRITISH TELEVISION, not Brit TV chopped to US censor/commercialism standards. (Sorry, this is a long-standing rant with me. This last series of <i>Doctor Who</i>, I haven&#39;t watched a single episode on BBCA - just went straight to downloading to get the &quot;pure&quot; version, and on the same schedule as all my Brit friends - two week lag, indeed! :-P )<br /><br />As for non-English UK countries not getting a look in here, it really is a shame - I love them all, I really do! I had SUCH FUN at Disney World a couple weeks ago, talking to all the UK uni students Disney recruited for the summer. In the space of 3 days <i>in Florida</i>, I got to talk to a bloke from Liverpool, another from Scotland, a gal from Hertfordshire who was astounded to meet an American who knows to pronounce it as &quot;Hart-ferd-shurr&quot;, a Edinburgh lass... and probably others I&#39;m forgetting (kicking myself that I missed the young Welshman my sister met). Kid in an accent candy store, I was. ;-)ButMadNNWhttp://refugefromreality.wordpress.comnoreply@blogger.comtag:blogger.com,1999:blog-28787909.post-60223069142179655432010-07-10T20:03:05.455+01:002010-07-10T20:03:05.455+01:00As others have noted, @mikcooke hadn&#39;t actuall...As others have noted, @mikcooke hadn&#39;t actually claimed these were Americanisms--but he had felt that they were out of place in the setting of the story, and so wondered whether they might be. Perhaps I shouldn&#39;t have copied his whole list--but it was in the spirit of illustrating that people are finding the current Marple series a bit less than Marplesque.<br /><br />I posted the &#39;Waiting for Elmo&#39; Monsterpiece Theatre because I like Beckett and the joke, but I wish I&#39;d posted one with the earlier, fuller intro, which is absolutely precious if you remember the series from a couple of decades ago. So, here&#39;s one that&#39;s not very good as a sketch, but with the <a href="http://www.sesamestreet.org/video_player/-/pgpv/videoplayer/0/244f7d02-157c-11dd-9bc7-777dea8a73e7/dr_no" rel="nofollow">excellent intro</a>.lynneguisthttp://www.blogger.com/profile/10171345732985610861noreply@blogger.comtag:blogger.com,1999:blog-28787909.post-4900747052371717932010-07-10T18:26:34.573+01:002010-07-10T18:26:34.573+01:00Any post that provides an excuse to post Monsterpi...Any post that provides an excuse to post Monsterpiece Theatre is an excellent post in my book! :)Karenhttp://andoverhere.com/noreply@blogger.comtag:blogger.com,1999:blog-28787909.post-5883193219758288392010-07-10T18:19:08.265+01:002010-07-10T18:19:08.265+01:00It&#39;s not that train station is non-BrE; it&#39...It&#39;s not that train station is non-BrE; it&#39;s common enough nowadays; but it WAS an Americanism in Agatha&#39;s day.<br /><br />Concerns about Americanisms shouldn&#39;t worry us too much. It&#39;s a natural reaction against a more powerful culture.<br /><br />And shouldn&#39;t that be &quot;Briticosity&quot;?Pickynoreply@blogger.comtag:blogger.com,1999:blog-28787909.post-29553953818073288112010-07-10T17:22:00.605+01:002010-07-10T17:22:00.605+01:00Ooh, Mollymooly, I LOVE &quot;britishosity&quot;!Ooh, Mollymooly, I LOVE &quot;britishosity&quot;!Cameron MacDonald Blackhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/11460898271918397890noreply@blogger.com